The Daughter of Time
by UntilNeverDawns
Summary: The daughter of an old friend comes to visit Captain Jack and to help the Torchwood team. The 21st Century is when everything changes, and Danya is there to help with the transition.
1. Chapter 1

Danya waved goodbye as the big blue box slowly disappeared back into the Time Vortex. She made sure her sonic screwdriver was placed safely back into the inside pocket of her black blazer and looked around. This was her new home. This was Cardiff. She caught a glimpse of something in the corner of her eye, something that shouldn't be there. _That's a perception filter_ her father's voice, ever so helpfully, supplied inside her head. _A rather good one too. Wonder what they're hiding. _Dany smiled and went closer to investigate. She pulled out her sonic screwdriver and quickly sonic-ed it. She looked at the readings and almost giggled. It was an elevator. She stepped on, braced herself and sent the energy from her sonic screwdriver straight into the mechanism controlling the lift. As it was traveling downward, Danya contemplated what could possibly be awaiting her below. She adjusted her black fedora more firmly on the top of her chocolate-colored curls.

Taking a deep breath she whispered, "Geronimo." She was nearly there.

"Who the hell are you?" a very well-dressed man with a very dangerous-looking gun demanded as the lift came to a stop. Danya smiled in a very non-threatening manner and quickly stowed her sonic in the back pocket of her dark-wash jeans. She had seen this man before, in files of some of her father's adventures before he met Mummy.

"My name is Danya Song," she said with a smirk. "My dad's told me all about you, Captain Jack Harkness."

The man was momentarily speechless. He shook his head before focusing back on her, his gun not wavering an inch.

"Your dad?"

"Yeah," she said, as if explaining this to a small child. "He's called The Doctor, travels in a big blue box called a TARDIS, saves the universe… is any of this sounding familiar? And could you please stop pointing that gun at me?"

Jack nodded and lowered the gun. He seemed a bit shell-shocked by the knowledge Dany had given him.

"I didn't know he had a daughter," he said at last.

"He doesn't right now, I'm from the future. He sent me back here to help."

The large room they had been standing in which had been empty started slowly filling with people.

"Well then," Jack said at last when he had finally processed everything. "Welcome to Torchwood, Danya Song."

Dany smiled and adjusted the lapel of her blazer.

"Introductions!" Jack said with more than a slight amount of glee, offering her a hand to step off the lift. "Toshiko Sato," the Asian woman nodded and smiled. "Gwen Cooper," the slightly gap-toothed young woman smiled and waved. "Owen Harper,"

"That's _Doctor_ Owen Harper, thank you!" the wiry young man shouted while giving Dany a short wave. "And last, but never least, Ianto Jones, our operations manager." The very well-dressed young man nodded with a shy smile and offered Danya a hand to shake,

"Nice to meet you all," Dany said. "So what do we do first?"

"Well," Jack said. "Owen should probably give you a medical exam, just to make sure you don't have any weird alien diseases."

"Okay," she said, shedding her blazer and revealing the lacy white v-neck blouse underneath. "Which way, Doctor Harper?"

Owen smiled, "I like her!" he said, offering his arm. "Right this way, Miss Song."

Jack just smiled and shook his head. He had much to contemplate. If the Doctor sent his daughter, something big was definitely going to happen. He headed to his office.

Owen got out his stethoscope and began listening to Dany's heart. He moved to the other side, took a listen and moved back to the other just to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

Dany fought back giggles watching this. "I guess I should have mentioned this, I have two hearts."

He looked at her in shock. "What are you?" he asked.

"I'm an alien," she said simply.

Owen didn't wait for her to explain about her (almost) completely human grandparents, he grabbed her wrist rather roughly and dragged her into a cell, locking her in.

She looked around dubiously. "Very nice, very hospitable," she said wryly. She just took a seat on the bench and breathed. Dad said Captain Jack was smart. Hopefully he would fix this, and soon.

"Jack," Owen said, bursting into his office. "We need to talk. About Danya."

Jack looked up. "What about her?"

"She's an alien!"

Jack was unimpressed. "What did you do with her?"

"I put her in a cell, because she's a bloody alien!"

Jack rubbed his temples. "Really, Owen? Do you honestly think I would willingly allow something dangerous in here?"

"Yeah, Owen, really?" Danya said, leaning against the doorframe, twirling her sonic screwdriver between her fingers. Owen looked shocked, Jack just laughed. "I got bored," she said as an explanation.

"How- how did you?" Owen said.

"Sonic screwdriver, works on anything and everything…except wood," she added as an afterthought.

"You are truly your father's daughter," he said.

Danya smiled. "Thanks, but you might want to get everyone together so I can explain exactly what I am, because those cells of yours are not very comfortable."

Jack nodded and spoke into his earpiece, summoning everyone to the meeting room.

"Hi everyone," Dany said to the assembled Torchwood team. "As Owen so artfully discovered today, I have two hearts. He also deduced that I am an alien. This is also true. But allow me to explain. My father is called the Doctor. He is the Last of the Time Lords. My mother is River Song, the daughter of Rory Williams and Amelia Pond, who are both human. Because Mummy was conceived on the TARDIS, she had Time Lord DNA, giving her the ability to regenerate, la de da de da. I'm going to skip a bit because of spoilers, but basically there is me, just enough Time Lord to have two hearts and regeneration, but not enough to continue on the legacy. Have I lost anyone?"

She paused to look around.

"So," Ianto said kind of raising his hand. "Do you have some sort of nickname? Or something?"

Dany looked at him, fighting back a laugh. "Of everything I just told you, that's the only question?"

Ianto nodded.

"Dany," she said. "Danya or Dany. I answer to both."

With Ianto's question breaking the ice, everyone else wanted to know things. Tosh wanted to know how her sonic screwdriver worked, Owen wanted to do a full scan just to see how alien she was and Jack wanted to know how good she was with weaponry.

"Well," she said, answering Jack's query. "Dad's not wild about the gun thing, but Mummy made sure I can shoot and shoot well. Just in case Dad decides fezzes are cool again. Oh, and I know how to fence."

Jack nodded. "Come with me."

Dany followed Jack to an underground shooting range where targets of aliens were set up and there were guns sitting out on a table.

"Pick one, and shoot it."

Dany smirked at him and reached to the small of her back, pulling out a futuristic gun and blowing the head off one of the targets.

"Very funny," Jack said. "Now, pick one that goes with this timestream."

Dany pouted playfully and picked one of the guns from the table. Jack went up behind her, helping her line up the shot.

"Getting a bit friendly there, Captain?" she asked, feeling his chest against her back and fighting back the blush that was quickly coloring her cheeks.

"Just making sure you don't shoot anyone, Danya."

"Right. Sure you are," she said wryly, letting him guide her arm. If her dad could see her now…


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and read this story. I really appreciate your feedback! Of course, I own nothing of this, except Danya. She's mine. Well, here goes part two! Enjoy!**_

"That'll do," Jack said after Dany had given every target in the range multiple killshots. She just shook her head at him. He had no idea what she was truly capable of, and she had every intention of keeping things that way until the knowledge was needful. The two of them headed back up to the main area of the hub.

"Jack," Gwen said when the two of them resurfaced. "I know you probably haven't considered this, but where is Dany going to stay?"

Dany looked at Jack. "Yeah, Jack, where am I going to stay?"

Jack thought for a bit. "You'll stay here, of course."

Gwen looked at him, confused. "She's going to stay here?"

Jack nodded. "It's the safest place I can think of."

Gwen shrugged and went back to work.

"You do know I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, _Captain,_" she said, putting extra emphasis on his title. Just because she looked sweet, innocent and defenseless, she had definitely shown she was more than apt at defending herself.

"Danya, do not argue with me on this, I don't want to be the one explaining to your dad why you got hurt or killed. I'd rather have an enemy I have a chance of beating if it's all the same."

Dany nodded understandingly. She had seen her dad angry a few times and wouldn't wish that on anyone. "Well, in that case, do I get to see my new quarters?"

Jack looked a bit surprised that she wasn't arguing, but offered his arm to escort her to her room.

"It's not much, but-" Jack started to say.

"It's fine, Jack," she said, looking around the sparsely furnished room. He was right, it wasn't much, but it would do. Of course, she hadn't left the TARDIS with much more than her sonic screwdriver and the clothes on her back, but that could also be easily rectified.

"I'll um, leave you to get settled then," he said, shutting the door behind him as he left. Dany looked around once more before perching on the bed, which was surprisingly comfortable. It wasn't much longer before there was a knock on her door.

"Come in!" she called. The door opened to reveal Ianto. "Hey, Ianto, what's up?"

"I was about to make up a batch of coffee for the team, I was wondering how you liked yours."

"That's really sweet of you," she said with a smile. "But I don't drink coffee."

"Tea then?" he asked.

Dany smiled. "Yeah, black tea, one sugar."

"Coming right up," he said, turning to leave.

"Ianto?" she asked.

"Yes?" he answered.

"Thank you," she said. "For everything."

The tall Welshman nodded. "Welcome to Torchwood, Dany Song."

Dany was left alone again. Being as she didn't have much of anything to unpack, she headed back up into the hub. Everyone was working on something. Gwen was typing away at a computer doing something, Owen was down in his medical pit going over the results of Dany's tests and Toshiko was staring at her computer screen with a quizzical look on her face.

"Something the matter, Toshiko?" Dany asked.

"Oh, hello Danya," she said, seeming a bit distracted. "There's something the matter with my system. I use it to monitor rift activity and it's acting strange."

"You mind if I take a look?" Dany asked, pulling out her sonic screwdriver.

"Go ahead," Tosh said with a shrug. "I can't make heads or tails of it."

Dany nodded as she adjusted the settings on the device, running a quick scan and looking at the display.

"Hmm, interesting," she said.

"Interesting?" Tosh asked. Dany nodded.

"Give me just a second," she said, her tongue peeking out of the side of her mouth as she began to concentrate on the screen in front of her. She typed a few things rapidly into a command screen and hit 'enter' with a flourish. "Done. Fixed. Repaired," she said with a grin. Tosh just stared at the screen in awe.

"How-how did you-" she was speechless.

"Advanced alien technology, that's really all I can say. What's important is that it's all fixed now."

"You are absolutely brilliant!" Tosh said, hugging the younger girl.

"You're welcome," she managed to choke out through the hug.

"Your tea and coffee, ladies," Ianto said, presenting them with two steaming mugs of beverage.

"Thanks Ianto," Tosh said, turning back to the now-functional computer.

"You are a godsend, Ianto Jones," Dany said, taking a long drink of the tea and smiling with contentment before perching on the couch and watching everything happen.

"Danya! My office, now!" Jack called from above.

"Coming, Oh Captain, My Captain!" she said in a singsong voice as she climbed the stairs to his office. She took a seat in one of the chairs as Jack closed the door behind her. She sipped her tea apprehensively. "Something wrong, Jack?" she asked. Surely she hadn't managed to piss someone off already?

"No, nothing's wrong," he said, a bit too nonchalantly.

"Jack, don't lie to me."

"I don't want you out in the field," he said, taking a seat behind the desk. "It's far too dangerous and if you get killed-"

"Jack," she said, cutting him off. "Do you honestly think my dad would send me here for you to keep me safe? I'm here to help you!"

"Be that as it may, I don't want you out in the field just yet. You're like our secret weapon."

"Really Jack? Secret weapon? Do I look totally daft to you? You're afraid of what would happen if I got hurt or killed."

"Precisely, and I don't want that to happen. Therefore, you will remain at the hub with Ianto. Am I-"

He didn't get to finish because an alarm began to resound throughout the hub. Jack stood quickly, grabbing his jacket nad heading out of the office.

"Oh, no you don't," he said when Dany made a move to follow him. "Ianto, make sure she stays here."

"Yes sir," he said with an apologetic look at Dany.

The hub quickly cleared out, with Owen, Gwen and Tosh all going with Jack. Dany looked around, trying to think of something to do.

"Do they always just leave you here like this?" she asked Ianto. She had moved to the couch and was sitting cross-legged watching him as he monitored the communications.

"It's not so bad really," he said.

"But now you have to baby-sit," she said wryly.

"Eh, I wouldn't call it baby-sitting. I just have to make sure you don't go running off."

"Still sounds like baby-sitting to me," she said, taking another sip of the tea. She sighed. How on Earth was she supposed to help if they never let her leave? Something big was coming, she could feel it. And it was going to change everything.

A few hours later, Jack and the others returned with three additional people in tow. Apparently, their plane had flown through the rift. Dany smiled and tried to seem friendly, but she had a feeling that this was only the beginning of a huge mess of ugly.

_**A/N: Hello again! Thank you for reading my little story! If you like it, please review, or track or whatever all you cool kids are doing nowadays. Theoretically, I should have the next part written by the middle of this next week, classes permitting,. **_


	3. Chapter 3

The arrival of the 1950's plane passengers caused a few changes around the Hub. After introducing herself to the three unintentional time travelers, Dany headed off on her own. Those poor people were having enough shocks without meeting an alien.

"Dany, are you okay?" Ianto asked later that day, noticing how withdrawn the girl had become with the arrival of John, Diane and Emma.

"I'm fine, Ianto," she said with a smile. "I figured they had enough to worry about without meeting Alien Girl."

Ianto nodded and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "I'm taking them to go get essentials in a bit, do you need anything? I noticed you didn't really bring much when you joined us."

Dany looked down at her tank top and jeans with a bit of embarrassment. "You know, I think I will tag along with you guys if that's okay."

"Of course it is!" Ianto said with a smile, happy to see her getting out a bit. "We're leaving in ten."

Dany didn't stick around with the others after they entered the convenience store. She headed to the mall across the street and replenishing her wardrobe.

"Don't worry, Torchwood didn't pay for any of this," she reassured Jack when she came back to the Hub, her arms covered in shopping bags. "I can't go prancing around time and space in only one outfit like Dad. It doesn't work like that. And I didn't think to pack a suitcase when I left the TARDIS."

"Carry on," he said with a shrug before returning to his office.

Dany headed down to her room and started unpacking her new things and folding them into the steamer trunk that someone had dug up for her things. After packing away most of the clothes, she jumped in the shower and let the hot water wash away all of her negative energy. She stepped out, feeling refreshed, and wrapped herself in a fluffy towel. She wrapped her hair in a towel to dry as she put on one of her new outfits. She picked out dark wash skinny jeans, an emerald green scoop-neck tee shirt and knee-high black suede boots. She towel-dried her chocolate colored hair and put in some mousse, letting it curl around her shoulders.

She made sure her sonic screwdriver was safely stored in her back pocket and her gun was tucked into the holster on the inside of her boot and returned to the activity of the Hub.

"You look nice," Ianto said when she resurfaced. "Tea?"

"Thanks, Ianto," she said, taking the mug and sipping it with a sigh of contentment.

"Dany,"

"Yes?" she replied, sipping her tea once more.

"I was just thinking, have you considered maybe enrolling at the university? I know you haven't had much to do around here."

Dany smiled. "Well, that depends on how good you lot are at faking transcripts. Time travel doesn't really leave much time for a formal education."

"I can take care of it," he said, smiling at Dany again before heading off to do whatever it was he was supposed to be doing.

Dany smiled and shook her head. With Jack not letting her outside the Hub for actual Torchwood things, she needed something to occupy her time. Letting her mind wander for any extended period of time was a bad idea. Especially where Jack was concerned.

"_Dad, daddy! Tell me a story!" the little girl demanded with a grin, bouncing up and down with excitement on her stuffed-animal covered bed inside the TARDIS._

"_Alright, Danya. Which story do you want to hear?" The Doctor asked, sitting next to his daughter, ruffling her chocolate-colored hair and adjusting his bow tie. "Weeping Angels? Cybermen?"_

_Little Danya hid her eyes. "I want a fun story, Daddy! Not a scary story! Tell me a Captain Jack story! Or a story about Mummy!"_

_The Doctor smiled. His little girl, always wanting stories about that Jack Harkness. "Alright, one story about Captain Jack, then bed. Agreed?"_

_Danya nodded enthusiastically. _

"_Well, it started when I was traveling and caught on to a piece of space junk that was code mauve."_

_Dany's eyes lit up. For someone so young, she did enjoy dangerous things. The Doctor continued._

"_It landed in London, 1941. The middle of the London blitz. I was with Rose back then, and she ran into Captain Jack first…"_

Dany smiled to herself. Even though she had only been with Torchwood a day, Jack hadn't disappointed her. He seemed more serious than Dad's stories had made him out to be. She supposed immortality and responsibility had mellowed him out a bit. She perched on the couch, tucking her legs underneath her and sipping her tea, just letting the activity of the hub float around her.

"Danya, could you come here please?" Jack called from above.

"Right away!" she said, taking her now half-empty teacup with her. "Yes, Jack?" she asked as she stepped into his office. His feet were propped up on the desk and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. She gave him a surreptitious once-over as she took a sip from her tea.

"Ianto tells me you want to enroll at the university," he said.

Dany nodded. "I figured it'd be a good distraction until you decide that I can be useful around here."

"So you thought college would be a good idea? Didn't you learn like everything while you were with the Doctor?"

"Well, yeah," she admitted. "But that's all futuristic, sonic and fixed, things that won't hit this timestream for another few centuries stuff."

"Okay. Well, you have fun with that."

"Thanks, Jack," she said with a smile. "Is that all?"

Jack nodded. Dany turned to leave.

"One more thing," he said suddenly.

"Yes?"

"Nice outfit," he said with a suggestive eyebrow raise.

"Get back to work, Harkness," she said with a smirk, swishing her hips as she left just to torture him a bit.

"Hey Dany," Tosh called. "Could you come take a look at this computer? I've been trying to monitor the rift since the plane came through and it seems to be acting up."

"Sure thing!" she said. _Finally something for me to do! _

She fixed the computer and left a very-satisfied Toshiko with a functioning monitoring system before returning to her room. _Well, _she thought. _If I'm going to be here a while, I may as well make myself at home._ She grabbed her new cross-body bag and headed back out. If she was going to redecorate the basement bedroom, she was going to need some supplies.

She returned a couple hours later and got straight to work. It was some early hour of the morning when she finished. She stepped back to admire her handiwork. The twin bed that had been sparsely furnished before had been lifted off the floor about five feet in the air, dressed in purple bedclothes that Dany absolutely loved. Under the bed went the steamer trunk with her clothes and a writing desk she had managed to put together. Sitting on top of said writing desk was a shiny new laptop computer. Naturally, Dany was going to have to rewire the thing, it was not nearly as advanced as she needed, but it would do.

Dany smiled as she brushed her hands off on her jeans. She put her hair up in a messy topknot and headed to her bathroom for a well-deserved bubble bath. After coming out of the bubbles and putting on clean clothes, Dany headed up to the Hub. The lights were dimmed and it appeared that everyone had gone home. Dany wandered around a bit, just enjoying the quiet.

"Can't sleep?" Jack asked, startling her. She spun around to see him standing in the doorway, his jacket over one arm.

"Jack! I haven't slept. What are you doing up?"

Jack shrugged. "I just got in. John's dead."

"Jack, I'm so sorry," she said, moving towards him.

"It was too much for him." Jack shrugged. "Why haven't you slept?"

"I've been busy. Redecorating."

"Redecorating?" he asked incredulously. "Show me."

Dany smiled and headed back to her room, Jack in tow. He looked around in shock.

"You did all of this yourself?"

Dany nodded. "I got so into it I didn't realize what time it was getting to be. There's still more to be done, but I figured this was a good start."

"I like it," he said, ruffling her hair. Dany fought back a smile. "Get to bed, kid. The others will be here in a few hours."

"Aye, Aye Captain!" she said, with an overdramatic salute as he headed back upstairs. "Sleep? Not likely." She said, sitting down at the desk with her new laptop and her sonic screwdriver.

A couple hours later, the laptop was functioning the way Dany wanted it to and she could hear activity above her. She adjusted her hair and clothes in the full-length mirror and headed up to the Hub.

"Morning, Dany," Ianto said. "Sleep well?"

Dany smiled. "Sure did. Where's Gwen and Owen?"

"Emma's off to London, she got a job working for one of the fashion houses and Owen…"

Their topic of conversation chose that moment to storm into the Hub, obviously in a foul mood. Dany gave Ianto a look that clearly said "someone isn't in a good mood."

It didn't take Dany long to realize that Owen had fallen in love with Diane, before she hopped back into her plane and tried to go back through the rift. His normal demeanor changed drastically. To put it plainly, Owen turned into an ass.

Relationships, especially when time travel was involved, were always tricky. Danya knew that firsthand, but that really didn't give him the right to take it out on all of them. This was _definitely _not going to end well.

_**A/N: Thanks to everyone reading this story! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter written1! I have everything planned out up to chapter 11, so all I need is the time to actually write out the chapters. I'm sorry if I messed up the timeframe of this episode. It's hard to keep track of when everything happens. **_


	4. Chapter 4

After the departure of Emma and Diane, things returned to a sense of normalcy at Torchwood. Dany began classes at the university, usually returning to the Hub with some amusing anecdote about how simple everything was, except calculus. In all of her travels in time and space, she had never liked or understood calculus. For some reason, everyone found it very amusing. The daughter of a Time Lord, disarmed by calculus.

"Okay gang," Jack said one evening. "We've got a loose Weevil. You guys know the drill. Gwen, Owen, Tosh and I will go after it and bring it in. Danya, Ianto, you guys stay and watch the monitors. Everyone keep your comms open."

Dany and Ianto nodded. This had become usual for them. They would watch the monitors, but Ianto would make tea and they would chill out together. The well-dressed Welshman was quickly becoming one of Dany's close friends. AS soon as the others left, Dany took a seat in one of the desk chairs and propped her Converse-clad feet on the desk.

"Your tea, milady," Ianto said, handing her a mug and pulling over one of the other chairs.

"Thanks, Ianto," she said, giving him a smile.

"So, how's school going?" he asked, genuinely interested.

"Not too badly," she admitted. "I can't stand my calculus professor though. I swear, he's worse than some of the aliens I've dealt with, and that's truly saying something!"

Ianto laughed. "Well, other than calculus, how are the rest of your classes?"

"Delightful, I mean I have to resist the urge to correct some of the professors. It's an exercise in self-control, definitely." _More than you realize…_ Dany thought. She had a bit of a temper problem, it took a lot to set her off, but with Owen acting like a jerk, she had been on edge a lot more than usual.

"Dany? Are you okay?" Ianto asked, concerned by her sudden silence.

She snapped out of it. "I'm fine," she said with a smile, taking a drink of her tea. "Jack, the weevil's inside the parking garage," she said into her earpiece. "Not too far from you now."

"Thanks, Dany," the voice replied.

"Just know," Ianto said, putting his hand on top of hers. "You can talk to me about _anything_."

The two of them stood up.

"Thanks, Ianto. That means a lot." She gave the taller man a hug, her head fitting right under his chin. He hugged her back.

"Friends look after each other," he said, looking into her eyes. She nodded in agreement. Dany got back on her comm, Jack was in the process of using some very colorful language.

"What's going on, guys? Did you catch the Weevil?"

"Someone took it," Jack said angrily.

"What?!" Dany exclaimed. "You're kidding me? What would someone want with a Weevil?"

"No idea," Jack said. "But we're going to find out. We're headed back to the Hub."

"Alrighty, see you in a bit."

Ianto looked at her, worried. Dany ran her fingers through her hair. It was going to be a very long night.

Gwen, Jack and Tosh returned to the Hub.

"Where's Owen?" Dany asked. Gwen just flapped her hand angrily and stormed off to do something. "They should have never gotten involved together," she said to no one in particular.

Owen returned later, having walked from the parking garage back to the Hub. Feeling the tension in the air, Dany refilled her teacup and headed down to her room to do her homework.

She was perched on the top of her bed, her back propped up by a few pillows against the wall and one leg hanging off the lofted bed when Jack knocked on her doorframe.

"Come in," she said, leaning over to see who it was. "Hello Jack."

"How's it going, Dany?" he asked.

"Pretty good, just wrapping up this homework. What's up?"

"Well," he said, leaning against one of her bedposts. "I was thinking about letting you come out in the field. We need all hands on deck for this Weevil situation."

"Really?" Dany couldn't believe her ears.

"Really," Jack said.

Dany sprung down off the bed and hugged him. He seemed shocked at first, but then returned her hug.

"Don't get too excited," he said, looking at her from an arms-length. "I said I was thinking about it, not that I actually was going to put you right out in the field."

Dany looked at him incredulously. "Really, Jack? Get a girl's hopes up." She climbed back up to the top of her bed and started typing a few things into her laptop.

"Aww, c'mon Dany, don't be this way," he said.

"Which way?" she asked innocently, observing him over the top of her laptop screen. "I have no idea what on Earth you are talking about." She shot him a wink and a mischievous grin. Jack just shook his head and headed back to the door.

"You are trouble, Danya Song, with a capital T."

She flashed him her best "who, me?" smile and he left. She returned to her computer screen, typing away rapidly. She kept that up for another hour or so before calling it a night, cuddling under her duvet and falling into an easy slumber.

Dany woke up the next morning, took a shower, ran a flat iron through her chocolate-colored hair and dressed in black skinny jeans, black leather heeled boots and a silver top. She slid her gun into the holster at the small of her back and her sonic screwdriver into the top of her boot. She grabbed her laptop on her way out her door.

"Morning everyone!" she said, coming up into the main part of the Hub.

"Morning yourself," Owen said, obviously in another of his perpetual post-Diane bad moods.

"Good morning Dany," Ianto said, handing her a steaming teacup.

"You are a saint, Ianto Jones," she said, giving him a one-armed hug before perching on the couch, setting the cup on the armrest and opening the laptop. She didn't have any classes today, so she got to hang around the Hub all day.

"Listen up, everyone!" Jack called, coming down the stairs from his office. "I have an idea of how we can catch those guys who stole our Weevil."

"Do tell," Dany said, looking up from her screen.

"We put a tracker in Janet's jumpsuit and set bait."

Dany looked at him. She could never understand why he named the Weevils, and to be perfectly honest, she wasn't wild about the idea. Obviously anyone who was kidnapping aliens weren't doing it to be nice.

"And Dany," Jack said, turning his attention to the young woman. "I want you to stay out of this one. It's going to be too dangerous."

"Whatever you say, boss." She said, turning her attention back to the rift monitoring program she was rewriting. She understood where Jack was coming from, especially in this case. It wouldn't be good if these alien abductors got their greedy little hands on a Time Lord.

Dany and Ianto were on monitor watch again, leading the team based on the signal being transmitted by the tracking device. Which, as it turned out, the abductors had stuck to a fence to lead the team off their trail.

"Damn it!" Dany exclaimed, pounding her fist against the desk. "We were so close!" She buried her hands in her hair and thought for a minute. "Wait, I have an idea!" Dany shut her eyes, letting the information float around her. "We need to get someone on the inside. Investigate from within."

"Great idea," Jack said, coming in the door. "But who are we going to send in?"

"I'll go," Owen offered.

"Good." Jack said. "Tosh, get a back story concocted."

Dany returned to her room, perching once more on her bed and working fervently on her laptop. She wanted to surprise Tosh and the others with the new rift program soon.

She lost track of the time she spent on the program until her earpiece started beeping at her. She touched it to activate it.

"Danya! Where the hell have you been?" Jack asked.

"Downstairs in my room," she replied. "Why?"

"We found out what's happening to the Weevils. They started a kind of fight club. We're on our way there now. I have a feeling Owen is going to do something stupid. I'll let you know."

"Much appreciated." She said, rolling her now-stiff shoulders back. She was nearly done with the program. She sat there for a bit, admiring her handiwork, until an ashen-faced Ianto rushed down the stairs.

"Dany! C'mon!" He said. "Owen's in the hospital!"

Dany vaulted off her bed and grabbed a jacket as she followed Ianto out the door and into his silver car.

"What happened?" she asked.

"He got into a cage with a Weevil."

"You're kidding me."

Ianto shook his head.

They got there and rushed into the room where the rest of the team was gathered around the hospital bed.

"I didn't want you to save me," Owen said angrily.

Dany bit back what she was dying to say, and then thought about it. Would she ever love someone so much that she couldn't live without them? Sure, she loved her Mum and Dad, but that was different. Owen was willing to be mauled by a Weevil because Diane left. She couldn't imagine something like that.

_**A/N: Hello again! Look at this, two chapters in one day! Pending how much writing time I have tomorrow, there may be another new chapter this weekend as well. We shall see. **_


	5. Chapter 5

Danya stood in front of her full-length mirror, analyzing her outfit from head to toe. Black heeled ankle boots, dark wash skinny jeans, burgundy sequined tank top, black leather jacket and silver chain necklace. Her hair was still piled on top of her head, waiting to be straightened, but her make-up was simple. She reached up, pulling the clip out of her hair, letting it fall around her shoulders. She turned her head, trying to decide whether or not to straighten it.

"Dany-whoa!" a voice said from the door way. She turned around quickly, and seeing Jack, relaxed.

"Yes, Jack?"

"Going somewhere?" he asked, leaning against the doorframe in an attempt to look casual.

"Yeah, one of the boys from school asked me out for a drink." Seeing the look on Jack's face, she quickly added. "It's nothing serious, it's just a drink."

"Just be careful, Dany. Tosh and I are going to go check out this dance hall on the other side of town. Keep your comm on. Call if you run into trouble."

"I will, Jack," she said, giving him a smile. "I'm always careful."

He just nodded and headed back upstairs. Dany turned back to the mirror; she looked for a bit, and realized she liked the way her hair had decided to curl. She gave herself a shyly confident smile and slipped her comm behind her ear, hiding it with her hair. She grabbed a black clutch with all of her important personal items and headed up the stairs.

"Well, I'm off," she said to Ianto, before stepping onto the lift. "Call me if you need me, okay?"

"Don't worry, I will," he said, giving his friend a smile. "Have fun."

"Oh, I will," she said, raising her eyebrow and smirking at him.

"That's what I'm scared of," he said.

"I'll catch you later, Ianto."

"See you, Dany."

She steadied herself before the lift started up. _Remember, normal Earth girl. No aliens, no Torchwood._ She thought, giving herself a quick debriefing before the lift reached the surface. She was meeting Ian on the plaza. She could see him, looking for her without appearing too eager. She ran her fingers through her hair once more before stepping out of the perception filter. Ian wasn't bad-looking, for a human. He had blonde hair that he spiked up a bit in the front, and the beginnings of a scruffy beard. Today he was wearing jeans, a black tee shirt with a black sportcoat over it.

"Dany, you made it!" he said, offering his arm. "Shall we?"

Against her better judgment, she found herself blushing and taking his arm. They walked to a pub that was not such a far distance away from the plaza and found themselves seated at a cozy table for two in the corner. They had their drinks and were just talking.

"You look amazing, by the way," Ian said, toasting her.

Dany smiled. "Same to you."

"So what brings you here? You don't seem like a local girl." he asked.

"The University," she lied. She felt bad about lying to him, but she couldn't honestly say that she was an alien from the future.

"Honestly? So do you have a job or something like that?"

"Something like that," she said. Torchwood wasn't exactly a job. "What about you?" she asked, turning the conversation away from herself.

He started talking. He was studying photography at the university, he worked freelance for some of the local papers while doing artsy photography for some of the art galleries. Dany honestly thought it was fascinating.

"That's brilliant!" she said with a smile. She subtly pressed her comm to hear what was going on. Ian kept talking.

"Dany," Ianto's voice came through. "You need to get back here if you can. Owen's trying to open the Rift."

"You have got to be kidding me," she said aloud, not meaning to.

"No, I'm not kidding," Ian said. "It was brilliant!"

"Not you," she said, slightly more snappish than she intended. "Sorry. It's work. I have to go."

"Already? But-"

"I know," she admitted. "It sucks."

"At least let me walk you," he said, standing.

Dany shook her head. "You can't. I'm sorry Ian, but I really have to go." She stood to leave, he grabbed her hand.

"Will I see you again?" he asked.

Dany thought for a second. "You can count on it." She said, giving him a quick peck on the lips and jotting down her cell number on one of the napkins. "Text me, okay? I really have to go."

The poor boy just stood there, still in shock. Dany would have been amused, if the fabric of space and time wasn't being ripped apart.

"Ianto," she said into the comm, as she ran across the plaza. "Give me an update."

"Tosh and Jack are stuck in the past, we're trying to get them back. Tosh had the other half of the Rift program on her laptop, which is with her in the past."

"Okay, I'm on my way down right now," she said. "Do not let Owen touch that rift or I swear to Gallifrey I'll kill him myself."

"Got it," Ianto said.

"Why is it this happens any time I try to be normal?" she asked no one in particular. When she actually got down to the Hub she saw Ianto and Owen standing around Tosh's computer, trying to put in a formula that Gwen found at the dance hall.

"Oh good, you're here," Owen said, sarcastic as ever.

"Can it, Harper," she said, not in the mood. She pulled her sonic screwdriver out of her clutch and tried to sonic the answer out of the computer, to no avail. "This is impossible! My sonic can fix anything."

"Well obviously, it can't." Owen said. Dany resisted the urge to punch him in the face.

"What do we have, Ianto?" she asked, ignoring Owen's existence. He handed her the piece of paper he had scribbled the formula on. Dany looked at it with an "are you serious?" look on her face. She cradled her head in her hands.

"That's it, I'm opening the Rift!" Owen announced, heading over to the rift manipulator. Dany ran over to him.

"Are you fucking insane?" She asked. "You'll kill us all!"

"Owen, step away from there," Ianto said calmly, a gun pointed at him.

_Why is it always guns?_ She asked herself.

"You aren't in charge! You're just the coffee boy and the boss's part-time shag!" Owen shouted.

Danya couldn't believe her ears, or that Owen had honestly said that. She heard the gun fire, and instinctively pushed Owen out of the way, feeling the bullet hit her shoulder. She bit back a cry of pain. There went her favorite jacket.

"Oh my God, Dany!" Ianto said, running to her side. She had her hand pressed to her shoulder.

"Stop Owen," she said through gritted teeth. It was too late. He had used the distraction of Dany being shot to open the Rift.

Ianto got Dany to one of the chairs and out of her jacket. She had some gauze pressed up against the bullet wound.

"What the hell did you think you were doing!" Dany started in on Owen. She had kept this all bottled up for too long. She, to put it mildly, lost her temper. "I swear, you HUMANS! All you think about is ME ME ME all the time!"

Ianto backed away. Angry Dany was frightening.

"I understand you miss Diane," she said. "That is not an excuse to check your brain at the door! And it diesn't give you an excuse to act like an ass to everyone else!"

"Are you done?" Owen asked after about another two minutes of her ranting.

"Yes," she said.

"Good. Patch yourself up. I'm going home."

"Owen!" Ianto said in disbelief.

"It's fine, Ianto," she said, looking down at the bullet wound. "I can fix this easily."

"I am so sorry, Dany. I really am." Ianto looked so upset it nearly broke both of Dany's hearts. "Can I get you anything? Tea? Food? Owen's head on a platter?"

Dany laughed at the last suggestion, and then winced as she bumped her wound. Tosh, Jack and Gwen had returned before Owen stormed out. Gwen had gone home and Tosh and Jack had retreated to Jack's office. They emerged now, Tosh off to salvage her father's birthday celebration and Jack came down to see what was going on.

"Oh no, you are not!" Jack said, when he said Dany trying to patch herself up. "I'll do it."

"Jack," Dany protested. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of this!"

Jack ignored her, picked her up bridal-style and carried her into his office.

"You're going to want this," he said, handing her a glass of amber-colored alcohol.

"Thanks, Jack," she said, wincing as he cleaned up the wound.

"Sorry your date night got ruined," he said.

Dany shook her head. "It didn't." She recounted what happened as Jack fixed her up.

"Wow, he seems like a nice guy," Jack said, finishing the wrapping on her arm and sitting in his chair on the other side of the desk.

"Yeah," she admitted. "He is. He's normal."

Jack smirked at her. She smirked back, and then sighed.

"What?" Jack asked.

"He's _normal_, Jack!" She said. "I'm an alien from the future!"

Jack shrugged. "And?"

Dany bit back a smile. "I forgot who I'm talking to. You 51st Century people…"

Jack just smiled. "You know you like it."

"Whatever, Harkness," she said, gingerly getting up to leave. "Would it be okay if I crashed on the couch tonight? It's going to be a bit tough to climb into bed with this bullet wound."

"Whatever you want to do, Dany," Jack said. "Need help getting out of those clothes too?" he asked suggestively.

"Nice to know a trip to your past hasn't affected your personality," Dany said. "And I can manage undressing myself, thanks."

"Suit yourself," Jack said. Dany walked out the door before she chose to ignore her better judgment.

When she got back down to her room, she avoided looking in the mirror. She didn't want to see the damage done to her new clothes. She just managed to take them off and pile them in the corner before changing into a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt, grabbing a blanket and heading back up to the Hub.

She curled up on the couch and covered herself in the blanket, sleeping on her side so she could keep the weight off her injured shoulder. It would be better by tomorrow, but she really didn't like discomfort. She needed to get some sleep. With the rift open, things were going to get a lot more complicated at Torchwood, and Dany had no idea how she was going to fix it.

_**A/N: Well, this was a lovely, long chapter! I hope everyone liked it! I'm sorry if I'm a bit fuzzy on the details with the rift opening, originally Dany was going to stay at the Hub, but Ian decided to pop into my brain. Lots of things pop into my brain and go into this story. Please review! I like knowing that people actually like this story!**_


	6. Chapter 6

Jack couldn't sleep, he laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling above. The rift had opened, it had begun. He couldn't stand being in his small room any longer. He got up and headed into the Hub. His eyes were drawn to Danya's sleeping form on the couch. She looked so peaceful and unburdened when she slept, for now. Before his very eyes he saw her face contort in fear and pain.

"No!" she cried out in her sleep. "Mum! Dad!" he watched as tears fell down her cheeks. He rushed over to her, cradling her in his arms.

"Dany, Dany, wake up! It's just a nightmare, shhh."

The girl didn't awaken, but clutched his arms and cuddled closer to him. He rocked her slowly back and forth like he would a small child, murmuring soothing words into her ear. He lifted up the sleeve of her tee shirt to inspect the bullet wound. He wasn't surprised to see that it was nearly healed. He smiled down at her, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Jack? What are you doing?" she asked, registering her surroundings, the fact she was in Jack's arms and that his lips were currently in contact with her forehead.

"You cried out," he said simply. "You were having a nightmare."

"Really?" she asked in mortified embarrassment. "Well, I'm okay now."

"You sure?" Jack asked. "I can stay here. It's not a problem. You seemed pretty upset."

Dany nodded. "I'm fine. You need to sleep Jack; we're going to have lots to deal with in the morning."

Jack nodded and stood up, tucking the blanket around her.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

He nodded. "Get some sleep, Danya."

Dany nodded and drifted off again, her forehead tingling with the remnants of Jack's kiss.

Dany awoke the next morning to the sounds of everyone arriving. She stretched and retreated down to her room to get clothes on and to shower. Anticipating the day ahead, she dressed for functionality more than fashion. She washed all the blood from the day before off, inspecting the site of her bullet wound, pleased at the rate it was healing. She stood under the cascade of steaming water for a while, just letting the water flow over her body. She wished she could stay there forever and not face what was to come today. She smiled wryly. Unfortunately she couldn't escape this. She shut off the water and wrapped herself in a towel, heading back into her room and finding the clothes she had laid out. She slipped into the skinny jeans and pulled the long-sleeved black shirt on over her head. She tied her hair back into a high ponytail and did the laces on her black Converse sneakers.

Dany took a deep breath. "Time to face the music," she said as she mounted the stairs back into the Hub. When she got up there, she saw Owen and Tosh headed out the door.

"What's going on?" she asked Ianto.

"Different parts of time and space are converging on Cardiff. There's been a breakout of plague."

"Plague?" Dany shivered. She had narrowly avoided that a couple times.

Ianto nodded. "Tosh and Owen are going to go try and contain it. I'm about to go collect one of the loose Weevils, care to join me?"

Dany nodded. "Let's go."

They returned a bit later, a weevil in tow. Dany helped Ianto get it into the vault, but was confused when it began cowering in the corner.

"What's wrong with it?" Ianto asked.

"I don't know," Dany said, moving closer to the glass. "But I don't like it. Give me a minute?"

Ianto nodded and retreated back a bit. Dany opened up her mind so she could pick up on the slight telepathic field that connected the Weevils. It was just as she suspected.

"It's the rift energy. It's causing them to freak out. I was afraid this would happen."

"That's not good."

"Nothing's good right now, Ianto," she said honestly. _I wish Dad was here, he'd know what to do._

The pair headed back up to the Hub just in time to watch Owen grab his things and storm out. Dany didn't even ask what happened. The tension in the room spoke volumes.

"Gwen and I are going to go find this Bilis character."

Everyone nodded. There was too much going on today to even bother arguing. Dany's phone vibrated in the back pocket of her jeans. It was a text message. Despite everything going on, she read it.

_New message from: Ian_

_Hey, just wanted to check on you, everything's kinda bonkers right now. Have you been watching the telly?_

Dany resisted the urge to laugh. She quickly typed back.

_Yeah, it's crazy. I'm sure there's some logical explanation for it. _

She sent up a quick hope that Ian would make it out of this okay. Dany slipped her phone back into her pocket and moved over to one of the computers. There were a ton of breaks in the rift. She started typing in information, trying to figure out exactly what was coming out of the rift.

Before she knew it, Jack and Gwen were dragging in a knocked out guy.

"Who's this?" Dany asked as they brought him down into the vault.

"Rhys. He's Gwen's boyfriend. She got a vision, so we brought him here for his own safety."

"Oh, okay." Dany shrugged and headed back to her computer. She was halfway through pinpointing the next outbreak of rift activity when everything went dark.

"What is going on? Tosh?!" Jack called out in the darkness. "I don't know!" she called back. The light from Dany's sonic screwdriver cut through the darkness.

"It's not us, Jack!" she called. She changed a setting on the side and the color of the light changed, after a few moments, the lights flickered back on. Gwen rushed down to the vaults. Dany didn't have to hear her scream of anguish to know what she found down there.

They got Rhys onto the autopsy table. Jack was standing next to Gwen, trying to get the blood off her hands. She wasn't letting go of Rhys' hand. Everyone was standing around, trying to figure out what to say.

"We can bring him back," Gwen said, finally coming to. "The Ressurection Gauntlet!"

"Destroyed. There's nothing we can do, Gwen," Jack said calmly.

"Then what is the fucking point of you?!" she screamed, flying at Jack, he just held her and let her cry and hit him. Dany was just standing there, watching all this.

"What'd I miss?" Owen asked.

"Oh look who decided to return," Dany said wryly.

"Now's not the time, Dany. I'm going to open the Rift."

Owen pulled out a gun.

"It's not going to fix anything!" Dany shouted as everyone went to go help Owen. Jack tried to physically stop them and got punched in the face for his trouble.

Dany couldn't watch. She turned away. This always seemed to happen. Silly humans. Then she heard the gunshot. She turned to see Jack on the ground, shot in the head. She ran over to him.

"Jack!" She closed her eyes. This was going to be huge. She could practically hear space and time ripping apart as Gwen opened the rift. Jack's eyes opened and he stood up.

"What have you done?" He asked, fully knowing the answer. "Dany, what can we do?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, Jack. This was never supposed to happen." Then it hit her. "Abbadon," she said, not believing it even as she said it.

Everyone rushed outside, just in time to see Bilis summon the creature.

"Stay out of it's shadow!" Danya cried to the others. She watched in horror as people just died in front of her very eyes.

"Dany, I need to get somewhere open," Jack said. "C'mon."

Dany nodded and headed to the Torchwood SUV.

"When I get out there, you need to leave."

"What are you going to do?" Dany asked.

"This thing feeds on life, and I've got plenty to spare." Jack answered stoically.

Danya just nodded. She wasn't going to leave him. No matter what he told her, she would stay with him. It wasn't like she didn't have a few extra lifetimes either.

They reached an open space just outside the city. Jack jumped out of the SUV and headed toward the center of the clearing. Dany stayed back, but didn't leave. She watched as Jack faced off against the stuff of her nightmares and winced as she heard his screams. Just because he could live forever didn't mean he couldn't feel pain.

Finally, the creature collapsed into oblivion. Dany smiled, then realized that Jack wasn't moving.

"No, Jack. Jack, wake up. Please?"

When the man didn't give any response, she squared her shoulders and slung the bigger man across her shoulders. _Thank Gallifrey this regeneration has upper body strength_, she thought as she put Jack's body in the back of the SUV and drove back to the Hub.

When she returned, the others helped her get Jack inside. Owen checked for vitals, and finding none, got Jack into a body bag. After everyone had paid their respects, they retreated back up to the Hub to comfort each other, except Dany. She didn't leave his side. Jack hadn't ever given up on her dad, and Danya Song was not going to give up on him. She stayed there, holding onto his hand. He would come back, he just had to.

Danya didn't eat or sleep in her vigil. Needless to say, the others started getting concerned.

"Dany, it's been two days," Toshiko said, coming down the stairs. "You need to eat."

"I'm not leaving him," she said, the determination showed through the exhaustion and pain in her eyes. Tosh nodded and returned upstairs. "You know," she said to Jack. "You were my hero growing up. Dad always told me stories about you, don't you dare die on me, Jack Harkness." The tears she had been holding back finally burst forth. She finally allowed herself to cry over her lost hero. As much as she didn't want to admit it, He wasn't coming back. "Goodbye, Jack," she said tearfully, placing a soft kiss on his cold lips.

She turned and was about to head back upstairs when she heard movement.

"You can't honestly leave me hanging like that," Jack said, his smirk playing on his lips. Dany grinned and ran to him, helping him get off the drawer and practically jumping into his arms, smiling impishly before crashing her lips onto his.

"Now that's what I call a welcome," Jack said, letting go of her.

"You are such a dog, Jack Harkness," she said, with a grin. "Now let's go find your clothes. I'm sure you don't want your triumphant return to be in a hospital gown."

Jack nodded. They found his clothes; he redressed himself, with only a few innuendoes aimed at the teenage Time Lord and the two returned to the Hub hand in hand. Danya smiled like a kid at Christmas as everyone's faces lit up. She gave everyone their moments with Jack, noting that she and Ianto had similar reactions to Jack's return. She went over to where she had left her sonic screwdriver and noticed that Jack's normally-dormant severed hand was being strangely active.

"Jack!" she cried out. "The hand!"

Jack ran over, the look on his face indescribable. "That's my Doctor detector. Your dad. Dany, come with me."

Dany shook her head. "It's your Doctor, not my Dad. Not yet. He can't know I exist."

Jack nodded. "Paradox?" he asked.

Dany nodded. "Nasty business. Best to just not tell him."

Jack nodded, giving Dany a hug and kissing her on the forehead. "Look after these guys, and try not to regenerate until I get back, okay?"

"I'll do my best, Captain." She said, giving him a salute. "Now go! The TARDIS doesn't ever stay in one place for long!"

And he went.

"Where's he off to?" The others were wondering. Dany didn't say anything. It wasn't her place. She smiled and reached for her phone. She was going to give Ian a call and see about rescheduling that date, now that space and time wasn't about to rip itself to shreds at that very moment.

_**A/N: Well, here's the next chapter! A bit longer than usual, but I hope everyone liked it. Reviews are always much appreciated. **_

_**Author Question: Would you like a chapter that tells how the team copes without Jack, or should I jump right back in with the show timeline and Jack's return? Review or PM me and let me know!**_


	7. Chapter 7

Danya stared at the computer screen, not really seeing it. Everyone else had left and the Hub was quiet. It was strange how quiet it was without Jack around. He'd been gone for about a week now. Not that Jack was ever loud, but it was the feeling of having another person there that was comforting for her. Unlike the others, Dany wasn't overly worried about their absent leader. She knew her dad would keep Jack safe. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. Strangely enough, she was feeling homesick for the TARDIS, her mum and her dad. She was brought out of this reverie by the sound of her phone vibrating next to her computer. The name IAN flashed on the screen.

"Hello?" she answered, checking the clock to see just how late it actually was.

"Dany, hey it's Ian. I was just wondering if you wanted to grab a bite tomorrow night maybe? If you aren't busy?"

Dany smiled. "I think I can manage to get the night off work. Meet me at Millennium Plaza at 7?"

"Sure!" Ian said.

"Okay, I'll see you then," she said.

"Bye."

"Bye."

Dany sat back in the chair and giggled like a giddy schoolgirl. She shut down the computer and headed down to her room. She smiled sadly as she looked at her bed. She remembered the first time her dad had decided to redo her room in the TARDIS.

"_Daddy! I'm home!" a teenage-looking Danya called, coming in the door of the blue police box. _

"_What time do you call this?" The Doctor asked, looking at his daughter from across the console of the TARDIS._

"_Oh, come on, Dad. I wasn't gone that long."_

_The Doctor smiled and hugged his daughter. _

"_You are too much like your mum sometimes," he said. "Go! Look at your room! I redecorated while you were out!"_

_Dany laughed and headed down the hallway of the TARDIS with her dad close behind, eager to see her reaction. She walked in and looked at her bed with confusion. It was up off the ground about 6 feet in the air. _

"_Dad, what did you do to my bed?" she asked._

"_I lofted it! Lofts are cool! It's like a bunk bed but without the bottom bunk!"_

_Seeing her father's enthusiasm, Dany couldn't help but smile._

"_I love it!" she exclaimed, hugging her dad tightly. _

Dany looked at her lofted bed and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a camisole. She climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling above her. "Goodnight Dad, wherever you are. I love you." Sometimes she couldn't help but worry about him. She hoped he wasn't traveling alone.

She bunched the covers around her body and drifted off into an uneasy slumber.

She woke up the next morning, took a shower and threw on a pair of jeans, knee-high brown leather boots, a white tank top and a cardigan with green and brown stripes. She braided her hair across the top of her head so it looked kind of like a headband. After applying a small amount of make-up, she grabbed the leather satchel that served as her bookbag and headed up into the Hub. Even though Jack was gone, Dany still went to her classes during the day. It kept her from going insane with boredom.

"I thought you might need this," Ianto said when she surfaced, handing her a thermos of tea. "I doubled up on the teabags so you can actually stay awake through your classes."

"You are a wonderful person, Ianto Jones," she said, giving him a one-armed hug before headed toward the cog door. "Oh, one more thing! I'm going to be a bit late coming back this afternoon. I have to go shopping."

"Okay, what for?"

Dany smiled mischievously. "I have a date tonight. I'll have my comm. Call me if something comes up."

Ianto nodded and Dany headed off to class. By the time the class was halfway done, Dany had drank most of the tea Ianto had brewed for her, begun doodling pictures of fezzes, Stetsons and bow ties and was thoroughly bored.

_I would rather face a Dalek than sit through this_, she thought. But, better to be bored and pretending to learn something than bored and around dangerous alien technology. She smiled in spite of herself. As soon as the class dismissed, Dany slipped her comm into her ear and headed to one of the little boutiques not too far from campus. She needed an outfit.

She returned to the Hub about an hour and a half later with a shopping bag hanging off her arm. Everyone was busy doing their own thing, so she went down to her room to begin getting ready. She kept the braid in, choosing to curl the rest of her hair instead. She looked at the dress she had laid out on the bed with a smile. It was a flowy red one-shoulder dress. The hem was three layers of asymmetrical fabric that came to the middle of her thigh. She had seen it and fallen in love with it. She finished the last touches on her hair and slipped into the dress.

"Yowzah," she said as she turned in front of the mirror, liking what she saw. The dress was dressy enough for a dinner date, without being too casual. She touched up her makeup and headed up to the Hub.

"Well, how do I look?" Dany asked, twirling in the center of the Hub.

Ianto stopped in his tracks and just stared. Owen peeked up from his medical bay and gaped. Gwen and Tosh both smiled.

"You look lovely, Dany," Tosh said with a smile.

"I did mention I needed the night off, didn't I?" she asked, looking at Gwen who had become the unofficial leader in Jack's absence.

"No worries about that," Ianto said. "You technically don't work for Torchwood. We can't have an alien from the future in the system. You have all the security clearances and everything, you just aren't in the computer."

"Still, though," Dany said. "I work here, even if it's not 'official'."

"Not a problem, Dany. You go have fun." Tosh said.

Dany shook her head. "Fine. Remember, I'll have my comm-"

"No, you won't," Owen said, coming up from the medical bay and giving Dany a very generous once-over. "Give it here."

"Honestly, Owen?" she asked, pulling the earpiece out of her ear. "You guys are absolutely sure about this?"

Gwen, Tosh and Ianto nodded. She took a deep breath and handed the earpiece over.

"Don't worry, Dany. We can manage," Ianto said.

"I know you can. I'll still have my phone in case of an emergency."

"Go on, Dany. It's not nice to keep the lad waiting," Gwen said, giving her a small push toward the cog door.

"Geronimo," she said with a smile, heading out through the tourist office.

She came around the corner and saw Ian standing next to a shiny silver convertible. He saw her coming and just stood there, staring.

"Wow, Dany," Ian said as she approached the car.

"Hey," she said, giving him a very appreciative once-over. He was looking very snazzy in jeans, a button down that was loose at the collar and a black sportcoat. He opened the car door and Dany got in, admiring the care put in to the vehicle.

"So you did manage to get the night off work," he said, starting the car.

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "They were being really cool about it, actually."

"You know," he said, giving her a sidelong glance. "You've never told me anything about yourself really."

_Well, I'm a two hundred and fifty year old alien from the planet Gallifrey, I sort of work for Torchwood on a consulting kind of basis and I live in the basement of the Torchwood headquarters. _

"Well, my mum's an archaeology professor and my dad's a doctor," she said. "They both travel a lot, and I needed stability, so I moved here."

"Wow," Ian said, pulling up at the restaurant. "So did you travel a lot when you were younger?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile as they got out of the car. "I suppose you could say that."

Dinner was on the fairly uneventful side, until the screeching of tires could be heard outside the restaurant and screaming people. Dany looked up and out the window in time to see a blowfish drive off in Ian's car.

"What was that?" Ian asked, absolutely bewildered.

"I have no clue," Dany lied. "Give me a moment?" She pulled out her cell phone and hit Ianto's speed-dial number. "Ianto, please tell me I didn't just see what I think I saw."

"Blowfish in a sports car? We're after it."

"Yeah, that's Ian's car. Do you want me to try and intercept?"

"Can you?" Ianto asked. She could almost hear the guilt in his voice.

"Of course. I can totally run after a car in these shoes," she said, lacing the last bit with a tiny dash of sarcasm. She was going to have to sacrifice the shoes.

"I'm sorry, Dany. I know you wanted the night off."

"Don't worry about it. I'll handle it. Bye." She looked over at Ian. "I'm really sorry, but I have to go run after your car."

"But-".

"Shh," Dany said. "It's a work thing. I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." She stood up. Ian stood with her.

"At least let me come with you," he said. Dany smiled and shook her head. She smiled mischievously and captured Ian's lips with her own.

"Now, stay," she said when they parted. Ian nodded. Dany squared her shoulders and rushed out of the restaurant, the fabric of her dress flowing behind her like a flame.

_This is what I get for trying to be human,_ she thought as she ran, slowly but surely catching up to the stolen car. When she caught up to the car, she chased the blowfish into a house, reaching for her gun before realizing that she was completely unarmed.

"Nice move there, girly," the blowfish sneered as she faced off against him. She rushed at him, hoping to be able to disarm him hand-to-hand. All that resulted in was her in a headlock with a gun pressed to her temple.

It was not thirty seconds before Ianto, Gwen, Owen and Tosh burst in, guns pointed at the blowfish.

"Now look at the little children," he teased. "Trying to be all tough while Daddy's away. What are you going to do? You can shoot me, but you might shoot her." He pulled Dany further in front of him.

Dany could see the fear and indecision in Ianto's face. He didn't want to risk shooting her. Again. Ianto was about to pull the trigger when another shot was heard and the blowfish's brains were splattered across the wall.

"Hey kids," Jack said, standing in the doorway, as cocky as ever. "Did you miss me?"

Standing behind him, looking completely floored, was Ian.

Dany looked down at her dress, it was splattered with mud from running after the car and blood and guts from the blowfish.

"You had better know how to get alien guts out of this fabric, Jack," she said. "This is a brand new dress."

_**A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay on the new chapter! School has been killing me lately. I hope some of you caught the subtle references to "The Angels Take Manhattan" in this new chapter. Since there was some indecision in my author question from last chapter, I put the best of both worlds! I hope you enjoyed it. Also, I have been considering giving the entire story a facelift, and by facelift I mean complete and totally rewrite. I have Part One nearly rewritten to where I want it, but I'd like your opinions. Should I scrap this and give you guys a rewrite with a slightly different but still lovable Dany, or keep this one as it is? Do let me know. Cheers!**_


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